Pac-12 football’s greatest moments: Oregon’s 2002 Fiesta Bowl statement
The Colorado Buffaloes hammered the Nebraska Cornhuskers late in the 2001 college football season. The Buffs rang up 62 points against Big Red in a 26-point beatdown. The decisiveness of the result should have knocked Nebraska out of the BCS National Championship Game at the 2002 Rose Bowl versus the Miami Hurricanes.
Yet, in a scenario which would repeat itself two years later, Nebraska’s blowout loss did not prevent a Big 12 team from making the national championship game. In the 2003 season, Oklahoma got crushed by 28 points against Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game. Yet, the Sooners still reached the 2003 national championship game at the 2004 Sugar Bowl against LSU. The Sooners occupied the slot USC should have been awarded.
It was all very similar for Oregon in 2001. The Ducks, not Nebraska, should have played Miami in the 2002 Rose Bowl for the national title. Yet, they were snubbed and had to face Colorado — the Nebraska slayer — in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl.
Miami did handle Nebraska very easily in the Rose Bowl to win the national title. Many people felt Oregon-Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl was going to be the better game involving the top four teams in the nation.
Oregon created a rout which was almost as lopsided as what Miami forged against the Huskers.
The Ducks, led by quarterback Joey Harrington and head coach Mike Bellotti, roared past Gary Barnett’s Colorado crew, 38-16, to make it very clear who was No. 2 in the country behind Miami. Regrettably, the Ducks never did get their shot at Miami, much as 2003 USC never got to play LSU. However, the statement had been made. Oregon did belong. It was an important and proud moment for Pac-10 football in the BCS era.
